Burn
By
Landon Richardson
Official Disclaimer
The characters of Lieutenant Commander Steven 'Steve' McGarrett, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua, Adam 'Toast' Charles, Governor Patricia Jameson and Detective Meka Hanamoa, do not belong to me in any shape or form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.
The character of Detective Sergeant Danielle 'Danni' Williams probably can be considered to be mine by now. Although she was originally based on male Danny, she soon evolved becoming her own person. She has her own background, her own family, her own history and her own distinct personality. This isn't to say that the Danny Williams we all know and love is completely gone, he still emerges through her at times. I like to think of female Danni as what Danny could have been if everything in his life had gone his way. As in full custody of Grace and a decent relationship with his ex.
The character of Grace has also changed slightly due to the change in Danni. Her surname is Taylor as this is her father's surname and was Danni's married name (Danni reverted back to her maiden name when she was divorced). Her parents also are amicable which has also impacted Grace but never fear, she's still the sweetheart we know and love, if anything she's more a sweetheart now.
The character of Supervisory Special Agent Jack O'Connor, Detective Abraham Lee. Martin Chen. Rita Chen, Doctor Rosie Lange, Kent Deacon, Ross Hall, Sasha Hall, Nicole Hall, Brent Cox and Special Agent Walker Humphries however do belong to me as does any other character who you do not recognise from the show. Please do not use them, or my version of Danni and Grace without first asking for my permission to do so.
Author Note
Welcome to what is technically the Ninth chapter of 'Burn'
Things begin to heat up now… pardon the pun.
Please enjoy!
Overall Summary
Fire, fire burning bright, which member of Five-O will you try to claim tonight… When Five-O are tasked with hunting down an arsonist who has graduated to murder, they didn't expect themselves to become potential targets. Now it's a race against time to find the murdered before it's too late.
Chapter Summary
Danni slammed the door of her car shut and locked it behind her out of habit, her gaze fixed on the building in front of her which housed the Medical Examiner office. It was still early in the day, barely even quarter to eight but she had been assured by Rosie Lange that not only would it be open but that she would be there to greet Danni when she arrived.
Overall Romance
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Mentions of past Duncan Taylor / Danni Williams (Dunni)
Hints of Ryan Moore / Danni Williams (Rynni)
Meka Hanamoa / Amy Hanamoa (Mekmy)
Chapter Romance
Hints of Steve McGarrett / Danni Williams (McDanni)
Warning
This story features a female Danni Williams in place of a male Danny Williams. Although in some stories I write, Danny does exist, he does not exist in this one.
If this is not your cup of tea then please hit the back button.
Another note
I do not have a Beta so please forgive any mistakes which may creep in, I always do my best to edit the story and check it but sometimes mistakes do creep in.
The places I've mentioned in Hawaii are ones which come from google, including the addresses. I've never been to Hawaii myself in person so I apologise for any mistakes which I may make, these are not intentional.
Chapter Nine
This must be a mistake
Tuesday 5th October 2010
Honolulu Medical Examiner Office
835 Iwilei Road
Honolulu
Hawaii
Danni Williams Point of view
Danni slammed the door of her car shut and locked it behind her out of habit, her gaze fixed on the building in front of her which housed the Medical Examiner office. It was still early in the day, barely even quarter to eight but she had been assured by Rosie Lange that not only would it be open but that she would be there to greet Danni when she arrived.
For a brief moment Danni felt a surge of pity for the other woman who had clearly just pulled an all-nighter. God knew she had been there enough times in her own past to know exactly how the red head would be feeling and how much she would need a hit of caffeine to keep her going until she could collapse into bed for some well-earned sleep.
Danni leaned down, picking up her shoulder bag from the floor where she had placed it beside her car and shouldered it, bringing her hand up to smooth any stray pieces of hair back down that may have been dislodged from her usual style after Grace's enthusiastic hug from that morning when Danni had dropped her off at the school gates so she could attend the breakfast club before she ran her hand down her red skirt, straightening it so the small white dots on the material lined up properly. Finally satisfied that she looked professional, she twisted around and picked up the two large cups of lattes from the roof of her car which she had picked up from Amy's coffee shop that morning. She headed towards the white building glancing around her out of habit.
It was a surprisingly nice building considering that it housed the Medical Examiner office and the morgue. Danni had found herself there at least three or four times a week back when she had been part of HPD and was more than used to the layout of the place. She nodded towards the guard who buzzed her through and made her way through the door to the end of the room which would lead her to the morgue area of the building.
It had been strange to her not to have Steve next to her in the car, she had grown used to heading straight to his place after dropping Grace off to pick him up. There was a part of her which felt guilty about what she had told him the night before about him having to make his own way into work on the days where Danni had to pick Grace up from school but she knew that it was the right thing for her to do at that time. She couldn't afford to be late again to pick up Grace from her school and there was no real guarantee that what happened yesterday with her car wouldn't happen again. She knew already that Steve would mean to keep his word that it wouldn't happen again but she was aware of that part of his personality which would allow nothing to stand between him and solving a case once he was in the zone over it.
She shook her head as she pushed open the door and entered the room, a smile coming to her face when she saw the activity going on. The morgue was always surprising busy considering the fact that Hawaii was a relatively small set of islands when it came down to it. She dropped her bag onto the chair by the door and heading in, her eyes sweeping the place trying to locate Doctor Lange.
"Hey Danni, you're here early, can I help you with something?" Danni turned, a smile coming to her face when she saw Doctor Richard White standing over a body, a questioning look on his face. Her smile widened as she took a step towards him making sure that she kept some distance between herself and the body on the slab, it was clear from the quick glance she had shot it that the man hadn't died in a peaceful manner, not giving the angles of his limbs.
"Hiya Rich." She replied with a smile. "I'm looking for Doctor Lange, do you know where she is? She asked me to come in and see her about our case." She asked him, noting that he raised his eyebrow at her as his dark eyes dropped down to focus on the two cups she was holding.
"I'm guessing one of those drinks is for Rosie?" He asked, sighing with a shake of his head when she nodded at him. "And there I was thinking that maybe just maybe you had taken pity on me and brought me a caffeine hit."
Danni laughed at the comment.
"Maybe next time if you're lucky enough to be assigned to one of our cases." She responded with a cheeky grin before looking around her again. Richard spoke up, obviously taking pity on her.
"Rosie is out back completing some paperwork in the main office." He told her with a half-smile. "You can catch her in there and the next time you come to visit make sure you're nice Danni and bring coffee for all of us." He instructed her with a wink before he looked back at the body, his face growing serious as he instructed the intern with him to step closer so he could see what he was doing.
Danni rolled her eyes at the wink before she moved towards the back of the room where the offices were. Normally they were occupied by either Abbie FitzGerald who was the chief medical examiner or her second in command Doctor Max Bergman who Danni had yet to meet in person. Abbie, however was someone who she had met.
She peered through the door, smiling when she caught a flash of red hair before she knocked on the door and entered when Rosie waved her in.
"Good morning" Danni said with a warm smile as she lifted up one of the coffee cups she was still holding. "I got you a latte, I wasn't sure what you drank but I figured if you've been here all night then you will probably be in desperate need of a pick me up." She stated, watching with a grin as Rosie came to her feet, the red head Shooting Danni, a pathetically grateful look as she reached out and took the offered coffee from her and lifted it to her mouth downing half of it at once. "I'm glad I bought you a large one." Danni remarked when Rosie lowered the cup, a tone of amusement to her voice.
"Right now, you are literally my favourite person on this island Danni." Rosie declared, clapping her hand down on Danni's shoulder and headed back to the desk, placing the cup on the surface and picking up a file from it. "Follow me." She said to Danni, slipping past her and heading back into the main area. "I autopsied all three of the Hall family yesterday evening." She explained, leading Danni to the rows of metal drawers where the bodies were stored awaiting further work or pick up. "Obviously there was substantial damage done to the outer bodies from the fire as I'm sure you'll remember but I was able to work out some aspects which were puzzling me." She told Danni as she opened one of the doors and pulled out the trolley revealing the dead body of Sasha Hall. Danni breathed out, her eyes flickering away from the burned corpse to focus on Rosie instead, suddenly thankful that she had skipped her breakfast that morning with the idea of getting something to eat after the visit to the morgue.
"What did you find out?" Danni asked, reaching out and taking the folder which Rosie offered her, opening it and glancing over to it, a slight frown coming to her face before she looked back up. "There were poisoned hours before they were killed?" She asked, watching as Rosie nodded at her.
"It's a rare poison which has to be ingested to get the full effects of it. The subject spends a few hours feeling light headed and sick like they are coming down with the flu, then they have muscles spasms in their limbs before they suffer from complete paralysis. The time between spasms and paralysis is literally minutes, they wouldn't have even had time to make it to the phone to call for help." Rosie explained, her eyes flickering down to the body with a sad look.
"Which would explain how he was able to get them into the living room without them alerting someone. All he had to do was carry them which indicates that whoever we are hunting is physically strong because Ross Hall looks like he was fit and athletic from the photos we've seen of him from when he was still alive." Danni said, feeling sick to her stomach when Rosie nodded slowly in response.
"They were incapable of moving so much as a toe let alone being able to open their mouth to scream for help." The redhead stated, her face going blank of emotions as she continued to speak. "The rest of it was done as I expected. Mother and Daughter was killed with a bullet to the back of the head. They were killed before the father who was shot in the back, severing his spine and left to burn alive."
Danni breathed out before she swallowed hard trying to wrap her head around what Rosie was telling her. She reached up and rubbed at her forehead with a frown.
"Why would the Arsonist shoot him in the spine if he was already paralysed?" Danni asked. "Surely that would be overkill in this situation."
"That's what I thought so I went back to the previous victims and although all of them had the same poison in their systems at the time of their deaths, none of the other men had been shot in the spine. It was only Mr Hall had been." She remarked, covering Sasha Hall back up with the white sheet and pushing her back into the drawer, closing it and locking it again. Danni looked up at the taller woman.
"So, there was something different about Ross Hall than the other male victim, perhaps he unlike the rest of them was getting some movement in his body, maybe something about him meant he could counter the poison which the Arsonist didn't count on or come across before." She remarked thoughtfully. Rosie nodded.
"I thought the same thing so I looked into it for you. Ross Hall was a type one diabetic which meant that he was taking insulin on a daily basis, something the Arsonist was probably unaware of, I think something about that countered the poison in his system."
"Do you know what the poison is yet?" Danni asked, frowning slightly when Rosie shook her head at her.
"There are a few possibilities it could be. I've sent a sample of it to CSU for them to run tests on and see what it is exactly, whatever is in it, it's powerful."
"Thanks for doing that." Danni said. "Having that information should help us a lot with the case." She shot the redhead a smile before her eyes flickered over to the clock on the wall. "Is it time for you to head off home now because no offence intended but you look like you could do with some sleep." She said.
Rosie stared at her for a moment before she laughed, shaking her head.
"You have no idea how good the thought of getting some sleep is right about now. I've just got to finish up the last of the reports for your case, once they are done, I can pass them to Abbie who is on duty today and get her to counter sign them. You never know, we might get lucky and by that point CSU might have come back with the type of poison which the Arsonist is using. This is strong stuff and it won't be easy to purchase the ingredients which are probably in it. You might catch a break if you follow that lead." She commented thoughtfully as the pair of them turned and headed back into the office where Danni picked up her own coffee and took a much-needed sip of it.
"Let's hope so." She remarked on a sigh once she had had swallowed. "Enjoy whats left of your latte and thanks again for the info." Danni stated as she turned and headed out of the room, waving at Richard, her nose wrinkling up when he waved back, his gloved hand covered in blood and other stuff which she didn't even want to think about, making sure she grabbed her bag on the way out.
She exited the building and headed over to where she had parked the car, unlocking it and climbing in. She closed the door behind her, her eyes automatically landing on the dashboard to see that it was now eight fifteen. She fished her cell phone out from her bag and looked down at the screen, noticing that she had missed a call from Jack. She frowned, taking a moment to sort out her hands-free kit before putting the ear piece in her ear and hit the recall button, turning the engine on and pulling away from her spot.
"Danni?" Jack answered the phone causing her to raise her eyebrow in surprise.
"Hey Jack, I've got a miss call from you, what's up? Have you found out something about the case?" She asked him curiously.
"No, are you currently with Steve?" Jack demanded, sounding tense over the line.
"Steve's not with me no, I'm by myself in the car. I had to stop by the Medical Examiners on my way into work as Doctor Lange has finished the autopsy on our latest victims and found something. I'm on my way into the office and should be getting there in about ten minutes pending on traffic so I'll be able to fill you guys in on then. What's up though, you sound worried about something, has something happened that I need to know about?" She questioned.
"You could say that, both Martin and Rita Chen made bail last night and have already been released from police custody." Jack told her.
"What?" Danni demanded, her eyes widening in shock. "That can't be right, we only arrested them yesterday afternoon, how the hell could they have made bail already. We have seventy-two hours before we even need to submit charges against them. They shouldn't even see inside of a court room before then." She heard Jack breathe out nosily before he spoke.
"I know that and you know that but it's not what happened here. I don't know if it's a Hawaii thing or something but it looks like HPD were involved in the mix up somehow." He told her.
"Tell me whats happened." She stated firmly.
"I came in early this morning to set everything up and to see what more information I could get on the pair of them before everyone else was in since the more information we have, the easier it will be to make them break regardless of whether they had lawyers in with them or not. I brought up their files and saw that a note had been added to it late last night stating that they had been seen as the last case of the day and the judge granted it as there was no opposition and they appeared to be good citizens and not flight risks. The money was paid by an anonymous individual for them both. HPD then released them."
"HPD" Danni repeated in disbelief, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "HPD should have nothing to do with this case and they certainly shouldn't be releasing people when our team is the lead. Detective Lee signed the case over to us which means anything decision to do with it would need to be signed off by Steve or myself if he's not available. I know for a fact Steve didn't know anything about this or authorise anything because when I saw him last night he told me that the plan of action was to interview them both as soon as we were all in and I definitely didn't give permission or sign anything to get them released."
"I've tried to get information from HPD about who actually released them and signed off on the release but no one other there will talk to me because they don't recognise my authority and are claiming that they have received no evidence that I am part of the Governor's taskforce. As far as they are concerned, I'm just a nosy NSA Agent sticking his nose into a case which is none of his business." He told her, clearly quoting what had been said to him if his pissed off tone was any indication to go by.
"Okay then, we can still fix this." Danni said, thinking carefully before she spoke. "Is anyone else in with you at the moment?" She asked.
"No one, I only came in because Tasha, my sister, was already up and said she would take care of the girls this morning." Jack replied.
"Once the others are in then bring them up to date with what has happened, call them now and if they aren't on their way in then tell them to get in as soon as possible. I'll call Steve and let him know what has happened, I wouldn't wish that call on anyone else. When I'm in then I'll call HPD myself to find out what happened and god help anyone over there who tries to give me the run around today. See if you can contact Detective Lee and ask him to come into the office as well, I think he had originally been planning to work from HPD today, lets see whether he can shine a light on this for us," She instructed, biting down on her lower lip, keeping her eyes focused on the road and growing traffic. "Do we at least have the details of the address they've been bailed to, is it the same address that you and Steve went to yesterday when you picked up Rita Chen?" She asked.
"I wish I could tell you but I've got no idea at the moment." Jack stated, clearly moving around the office, a clicking sound coming across the line which indicated he had just switched the main computer table on to work from. "I spoke to the courts the minute they opened at eight and they were a lot more helpful, the woman I spoke to said she would search their records and fax us over a copy of the bail grant paperwork. The judge who granted them bail is due in court this morning at nine so I'll try and see if I can reach him and get some details from his clerk to see what happened."
"Sound good, thank god you chose this morning of all mornings to come in early." Danni pointed out with a shake of her head. "I'll call Steve now; you take care of things your end and I'll see you within ten. We need to get ahead of this now." She told him.
"Got it, see you shortly Danni." Jack replied.
"See you Jack." She responded, reaching out and ending the call between them, she glanced down, pressing on the number two button before looking back up, seriously contemplating turning her lights and sirens on before discarding the idea, there was little point when she was so close to headquarters already.
The phone was picked up after three rings.
"Hey Danno, you okay? I wasn't expecting to hear from you yet." Steve commented, she could hear the sound of traffic on his end indicating that he was already in his truck and on his way into the office for the day.
"Where are you Steve?" She asked him, foregoing the usual pleasantries which normally accompanied their calls, something which he clearly picked up on if the change in his tone was any indication.
"I just left my house about two minutes ago so I'm about eight minutes out. Why are you asking? Are you still at the ME's office because I can easily swing by in that direction if you need to show me something about the case?"
"No, no I'm already finished there and am just pulling into the office carpark now. Look Steve, Jack has just called me, Both Chens made bail last night and have already been released from custody." She told him, heading straight to her reserved space and killed the engine.
"What" Steve demanded. "Explain to me how they could have made bail when we arrested them yesterday?"
"I don't know yet Steve, it's what we need to look into." She said, twisting in her chair and gathering her bag together before she pushed the door open and climbed out, still speaking as she did. "Jack called me just before I rang you, he came in early to do some additional research on them for the interviews and he saw the note placed on the file. He's ringing the others now to tell them to come in. He's been on the phone to the courts already and they have agreed to fax a copy of the bail grant paperwork over to us so we can at least see where they are bailed to. HPD have been stonewalling him so I'll deal with them myself. They might not have gone back to their home which means that until that bail agreement comes in then we have no idea where they are. We also need to find out who the hell paid bail for them since it was apparently done anonymously and I doubt the amount was cheap." She told him as she locked the car and headed up the stairs.
"I might not be an expert on this yet but I know we can hold them for seventy-two hours without charging them." Steve said
"That's normally the case and they should still be in lock up but something has clearly gone really wrong here and either the paperwork was screwed up which I severely doubt as nothing from us was submitted or…" Her voice trailed off as she flashed her badge at the guard and placed her bag in the x-ray scanner which had been added the week before no doubt at her partner's assistant.
"Or?" Steve prompted when she remained silent.
"Give me a second Steven, I'm trying to get through all this security you've set up." She stated irritably, passing her cell phone to the guard on the other side before she stepped through the scanner, thankful when it didn't beep at her, she quickly took her phone back. "Are you still there?" She asked
"I'm here" He replied, "What were you saying?"
"If this wasn't an error then it means that this could go beyond a simple Arsonist off the street. We might be looking at someone with enough sway to have the Chen's bail pushed to the top of the pile and amended it so the information on it was false. They shouldn't even have received a bail hearing until the DA pressed charges and even if somehow, they did manage it then it wouldn't have been yesterday on the day of their arrest. Someone in a position of power helped them." She said as she picked up her bag and shouldered it again heading towards the elevators and pressed the button. "I need to go Steve, I'm just getting into the elevator, I need to start making calls once I've spoken to Jack, like I said earlier apparently HPD have refused to speak to Jack because they don't recognise him as a member of the team." She said.
"I'll be there in five." Steve told her before abruptly hanging up the phone.
She ended the call her end and stepped into the elevator, hitting the button for the third floor and waiting impatiently as the doors slowly slid shut. She watched the numbers, stepping out the moment she could and headed down the corridor to their headquarters, pulling the door open and looking around her, relieved to see that Chin was now standing beside Jack at the computer table.
"I'm here." She stated as she moved passed them to her office, quickly unlocking the room and dumping her bag beneath her desk, her cell in hand as she headed back out and joined them at the table. "How much do you know?" She asked Chin, shooting him a quick questioning look.
"About the same as you, I arrived in the office just as Jack hung up with you." He explained to her. "He filled me in on what happened."
"Good, has anything more happened?" She questioned, her eyes flickering between the two of them, uncaring over who answered her query.
"The courts have rung back, they found the bail grant form and are going to email, it over to us because their fax machine is out of toner or broken or something along those line." Chin told her, watching as she nodded at him. "Probably not the best time to mention this but I got you a latte this morning, it's on the side there." He said, nodding his head towards the takeaway cup which she could was still steaming indicating it was fresh.
"Thanks" She said absently, reaching out and patting him on the arm before she turned to Jack. "The others?" She queried.
"Are on their way" He answered her, finally looking away from the computer screen to focus on her. "Toast was just leaving his place when I called and Kono was just finishing up breakfast but she says that it won't take her longer than twenty minutes or so to get here from where she lives. I've tried to get through to Detective Lee like you wanted Danni, but the phone keeps ringing so I'll keep trying, he could be in the bathroom or still asleep."
"I spoke to Steve as well; he should be here within five minutes or so." She told them. "I feel like I should warn you both that if he was in a good mood this morning then he is definitely no longer in one so we should probably be aware of that." She said, her mouth curling up into a rueful smile.
"He can join the club with me if that is the case." Jack answered grimly before looking back down at the screen a beeping sound occurred. "That would be the email from the court like they promise." He said, bringing it up and opening the attachment, pressing on something on the screen and highlighting the release address with a frown. "That address listed there is definitely not the same place Steve and I went to yesterday." Jack commented with a shake of his head as he straightened and crossed his arms over his chest.
"It's not even remotely near it." Chin concurred, glancing at the blond man when he raised his hand and pulled thoughtfully at his lower lip.
"Whats more is that address doesn't even belong to them or anyone connected to them." Danni added, waving her hand towards it. "I went through both their files and backgrounds yesterday before I left and the only property, they own is the one you went to yesterday. It doesn't belong to family either because like I said I checked them as well."
"There has to be some connection to the address otherwise the judge wouldn't have released them both to it." Chin pointed out.
"Does there?" Jack countered. "I mean everything else about the bail has seemingly been a lie other than their details, why not the residence they are meant to stay at as well?"
"Good point." Chin admitted as he crossed his arms.
"Give me a moment to grab the files, we can have another quick look through them to make sure that I didn't miss something." Danni stated as she moved back into the office and stopped beside her desk. She searched through the pile of files beside her in-tray and looked through them, quickly discarding the ones she didn't need until she found the two files, she had made up the day before on both Chens. She picked them up and headed back into the main room, raising an eyebrow in surprise when she saw Steve had arrived with a look on his face which made it clear that he wanted heads to roll. "Hey." She called out, attracting his attention as she slipped into the free space beside Chin and passed him one of the files. "Have a look in that one." She instructed before flipping her own one open and looking through the list of addresses closely before she shook her head. "Nothing."
"Same, nothing in this one." Chin agreed as he closed it.
"Where is Toast?" Steve demanded with a scowl, looking around him as though he expected the six-foot four man to suddenly jump up from nowhere.
"He's on his way into the office now." Chin answered him. "Jack has already called him and Kono on Danni's instructions and told them to come straight in. None of us were expecting this to happen so technically neither of them are late since its not yet nine." He added with a quick look at Steve.
"The Chens might not have any links to the house but it won't be difficult for me to find out who it does belong to. Give me a moment and I'll have every piece of information on the home owner going back to what grades they got in middle school." Jack assured them as he cracked his knuckles, shaking them out for a second before bringing them to the keyboard.
"Wait" Danni said suddenly, her hand shooting out to rest on his arm, stilling his movement as she stared at the screen. "Before you do that can you zoom in on the bail form for me?" She demanded, ignoring the looks they shot her as she pulled her hand back.
"I can do that." Jack responded, typing something into the computer, he selected the form and zoomed in, shooting her a quick look. "Is there any part of in in particular you want me to focus on?"
"Can you focus on the counter signature at the bottom please, the one stating he was released from custody?" She requested with a frown, her eyes widening when she saw it.
"That can't be right." Chin muttered from beside her, attracting her attention briefly.
"What can't be right?" Steve questioned, his eyes moving between the two of them.
"That signature there" Danni said, nodding towards it before she met his eyes. "It belongs to Abraham Lee. According to this document it was Detective Lee himself who accepted the bail money and released them from detention." She stated before she looked back at the form, her hand coming up and gripping the back of her neck.
Just what had they been led into?
Author Note
Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it.
I really appreciate it